Summer Ag. Institute is held

Friday

Ten educators from Fulton and McDonough Counties recently took part in the Summer Ag. Institute (SAI), sponsored by the Fulton County Farm Bureau and the McDonough County Farm Bureau.

Ten educators from Fulton and McDonough Counties recently took part in the Summer Ag. Institute (SAI), sponsored by the Fulton County Farm Bureau and the McDonough County Farm Bureau. The participating teachers learned of opportunities to expand their curriculum to include topics related to agriculture. The program was conducted June 19-21 and focused this year on specialty farms and niche markets.

The first day of the program kicked off at the Fulton County Farm Bureau office in Lewistown, with participants first traveling to Hilltop Honey outside of Lewistown, owned by Kyle and Cassie McCarthy. There teachers learned about equipment needed, bee care, honey production and marketing of the products. From there the group travelled to the farm of Karen and Matt Messer in Little America, where the family raises chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, peacocks, rabbits and goats. They are licensed through the IL Department of Ag. for egg sales, and Karen discussed that process.

That afternoon the group toured Snowman’s Reindeer Farm near Canton. Scott and Tracy are both artists and art instructors. While illustrating their first children’s book in 2011 (“‘Twas the Night Before a Green Christmas”) they discovered that there was very little resource material to work from while trying to illustrate reindeer for the book. They purchased their first pair of animals in 2015, and now have a family of animals that thousands of people come to visit during their season. They offer art classes and a well-stocked gift shop. Finishing up day one, the group toured Hollwed Hopps in rural Lewistown. Owned by the Kotewa family, the farm was established in 2014 on two acres. They now have numerous varieties of hops on 10 acres and partner with several breweries within 100 miles (Engrained Brewing, Buzz Bomb, Triptych, Industry Brewing, Bearded Owl, Geneseo Brewing, Lot 51). The recently brewed 1818 Illinois Bicentennial Beer is brewed with their hops.

The second day featured a tour of Nature’s Grace and Wellness. The family owned and run medical marijuana grow facility was founded in 2014 by the O’Hern Family as part of the Compassionate Care Act of Illinois. The Grow Center is located on the family grain and livestock farm in Vermont in Fulton County. The next stop was at Purple Prairie Lavender Farm near Good Hope. The owners, Lisa and Steve created their LLC in 2013. They have more than 800 plants in the ground and continue add more plants each year, including German Chamomile and herbs. They create their own quality bath and body products from the basement of their home on site.

That afternoon included a visit to Tri County Seed in Sciota, a local business servicing the Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa area with agronomic, seed and treatment needs. The final tour was to Camp Orchard near Roseville. Camp’s offers a wide variety of apples, cider, apple cider donuts, honey, maple syrup, jams(sugarless available), nuts and chocolates. They are adding peach trees, a greenhouse and a “you pick” pumpkin patch this year. They are open September - November.

The final day was hosted at the McDonough County Farm Bureau offices. Presentations were made from Illinois Beef Association President Joni Bucher, St. Louis Dairy Council rep Monica Nyman, Illinois Ag. In the Classroom staff, and local Ag. Literacy Coordinators.

Summer Ag Institute focuses on integrating resources and hands-on activities about agriculture and the environment into existing classroom curriculum. Participants earned professional development hours for continuing education credit upon successful completion of the course. For more information on bringing AITC into your schools, contact Fulton County Ag Literacy Coordinator Tonya Holt at 547-3011.

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